The present invention relates to electrical terminals, and in particular terminal blade connection systems.
It is known in the automotive industry to provide terminal and connector assemblies for distributing electrical current to various devices in the vehicle. Moreover, as vehicles employ more devices, which results in an even greater demand for electrical current, a need has arisen to provide multiple high current connections, in addition to low current connections. It is preferable that the connections, both high and low current, are provided in close proximity to one another. In order to accomplish this, some employ custom hybrid header connectors, which allow for the mixing of the high and low current connections. But these custom connectors are not desirable because of their relatively high cost.
Moreover, with these types of header connections, the routing on the printed circuit board must be from the high current connections to the high current header, whether the particular routings are convenient or not. This severely limits the ability to optimize a layout of a printed circuit board for routability.
Additionally, the existing printed circuit board and connector combinations are unidirectional. That is, the connection from the high current printed circuit board only allows for it to be oriented on one specific side of the low current printed circuit board. Additional flexibility can be provided if the mating between the boards could take place from either side.
Thus, it is desirable to have a connection system that can be employed to make both high and low current connections and that overcomes the drawbacks of the prior art.